U.S. patent number 10,630,638 [Application Number 15/917,254] was granted by the patent office on 2020-04-21 for maintaining communications in a failover instance via network address translation.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Palo Alto Networks, Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is PALO ALTO NETWORKS, INC.. Invention is credited to Shu Lin, Hao Long, Eswar Rao Sadaram, Patrick Xu.
United States Patent |
10,630,638 |
Lin , et al. |
April 21, 2020 |
Maintaining communications in a failover instance via network
address translation
Abstract
Described herein are systems, methods, and software to enhance
failover operations in a cloud computing environment. In one
implementation, a method of operating a first service instance in a
cloud computing environment includes obtaining a communication from
a computing asset, wherein the communication comprises a first
destination address. The method further provides replacing the
first destination address with a second destination address in the
communication, wherein the second destination address comprises a
shared address for failover from a second service instance. After
replacing the address, the method determines whether the
communication is permitted based on the second destination address,
and if permitted, processes the communication in accordance with a
service executing on the service instance.
Inventors: |
Lin; Shu (Santa Clara, CA),
Xu; Patrick (Santa Clara, CA), Sadaram; Eswar Rao
(Saratoga, CA), Long; Hao (Campbell, CA) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
PALO ALTO NETWORKS, INC. |
Santa Clara |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (Santa
Clara, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
67843637 |
Appl.
No.: |
15/917,254 |
Filed: |
March 9, 2018 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20190281014 A1 |
Sep 12, 2019 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
11/2048 (20130101); H04L 61/2517 (20130101); H04L
61/2007 (20130101); H04L 67/10 (20130101); G06F
9/45558 (20130101); H04L 69/40 (20130101); G06F
11/2038 (20130101); G06F 11/2023 (20130101); G06F
2201/815 (20130101); G06F 2009/45595 (20130101); G06F
2009/45591 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
15/16 (20060101); G06F 11/20 (20060101); G06F
9/455 (20180101); H04L 29/08 (20060101); H04L
29/14 (20060101); H04L 29/12 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;709/249 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Jean; Frantz B
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of operating a first service instance to provide
failover operations for a second service instance, the method
comprising: obtaining a communication from a computing asset,
wherein the communication comprises a first destination address;
replacing the first destination address with a second destination
address in the communication, wherein the second destination
address comprises a shared address for failover from the second
service instance; determining whether the communication is
permitted based at least in part on the second destination address
and maintained connection information for active connections at the
second service instance; and when the communication is permitted,
processing the communication in accordance with a service executing
on the first service instance.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first service instance and
the second service instance comprise virtual machines or
containers.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprises obtaining the
connection information from the second service instance.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the service executing on the
first service instance comprises a firewall service.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first destination address
comprises a first internet protocol (IP) address allocated to the
first service instance, wherein the second service instance is
allocated a second IP address, and wherein the first IP address and
the second IP address are in different IP subnets.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second destination address
comprises a third IP address.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing asset comprises one
of a physical computing asset or a virtual computing asset.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, when the communication
is not permitted, blocking the communication from processing by the
service executing on the first service instance.
9. A computing apparatus comprising: one or more non-transitory
computer readable storage media; a processing system operatively
coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage
media; and program instructions stored on the computing apparatus
to operate a first service instance to provide failover operations
from a second service instance that, when read and executed by the
processing system, direct the processing system to at least: obtain
a communication from a computing asset, wherein the communication
comprises a first destination address; replace the first
destination address with a second destination address in the
communication, wherein the second destination address comprises a
shared address for failover from the second service instance;
determine whether the communication is permitted based at least in
part on the second destination address and maintained connection
information for active connections at the second service instance;
and when the communication is permitted, process the communication
in accordance with a service executing on the first service
instance.
10. The computing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first service
instance and the second service instance comprise virtual machines
or containers.
11. The computing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the program
instructions further direct the processing system to obtain the
connection information from the second service instance.
12. The computing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the service
executing on the first service instance comprises a firewall
service.
13. The computing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first
destination address comprises a first internet protocol (IP)
address allocated to the first service instance, wherein the second
service instance is allocated a second IP address, and wherein the
first IP address and the second IP address are in different IP
subnets.
14. The computing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second
destination address comprises a third IP address.
15. The computing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computing asset
comprises one of a physical computing asset or a virtual computing
asset.
16. The computing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the program
instructions further direct the processing system to, when the
communication is not permitted, block the communication from
processing by the service executing on the first service
instance.
17. A method of operating a service to provide failover between
service instances, the method comprising: in a first service
instance, establishing connections with one or more computing
assets of an organization network, maintaining connection
information related to the connections; and providing the
connection information to a second service instance; in the second
service instance, obtaining the connection information, obtaining a
communication from a computing asset, wherein the communication
comprises a first destination address, replacing the first
destination address with a second destination address in the
communication, wherein the second destination address comprises a
shared address for failover from the first service instance,
determining whether the communication is permitted based at least
in part on the second destination address and the connection
information for active connections at the first service instance,
and when the communication is permitted, processing the
communication in accordance with a service executing on the second
service instance.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first service instance and
the second service instance comprise virtual machines or
containers.
19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first destination address
comprises a first internet protocol (IP) address allocated to the
first service instance, wherein the second service instance is
allocated a second IP address, and wherein the first IP address and
the second IP address are in different IP subnets.
20. The method of claim 17 further comprising, when the
communication is not permitted, blocking the communication.
Description
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
Virtual provide clouds provide an efficient mechanism to
dynamically increase or decrease processing resources as they are
required by an organization. These virtual private clouds may
provide various operations for the organization, including web
hosting, data processing, data storage, firewall operations, or
some other similar operation using networked servers rather than
physical computing systems that are maintained by the organization.
Consequently, as additional processing resources are required, the
organization may deploy additional virtual resources, such as
virtual machines and containers, capable of providing the desired
operations of the organization.
While virtual private clouds permit organizations to deploy and
remove computing resources, difficulties often arise in managing
the communication between local computing assets of the
organization (desktop computing systems, virtual machines, and the
like) with the virtual computing instances that are located on the
cloud service providers host computing systems. In particular,
software defined networking configurations of the cloud service
provider may make it difficult for organizations to maintain
connections with their virtual private cloud when a connection is
transitioned from a primary processing instance in the virtual
private cloud to a failover processing instance in the virtual
private cloud. Specifically, it may be difficult to maintain the
required addressing to transition communication sessions from the
primary instance to the backup instance.
SUMMARY
The technology described herein enhances failover operations for
service instances in a cloud computing environment. In one
implementation, a method of operating a first service instance to
provide failover operations for a second service instance includes
obtaining a communication from a computing asset, wherein the
communication comprises a first destination address. The method
further provides replacing the first destination address with a
second destination address in the communication, wherein the second
destination address comprises a shared address for failover from
the second service instance. Once replaced, the method also
includes determining whether the communication is permitted based
at least in part on the second destination address and maintained
connection information for the second service instance, and when
the communication is permitted, processing the communication in
accordance with a service executing on the service instance.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates a computing environment to manage failover in
service instances of a cloud service provider according to an
implementation.
FIG. 2 illustrates an operation of a service instance to provide
failover operations according to an implementation.
FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate an operational scenario of providing
failover operations from a first service instance to a second
service instance according to an implementation.
FIG. 4 illustrates a data structure to maintain communication
session information according to an implementation.
FIG. 5 illustrates an overview of a packet flow to a failover
service instance according to an implementation.
FIG. 6 illustrates a host computing system of a cloud service
provider according to an implementation.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 illustrates a computing environment 100 to manage failover
in service instances of a cloud service provider according to an
implementation. Computing environment 100 includes cloud service
provider 110, organization network 140, and other network computing
systems 160. Cloud service provider 110 further includes primary
service(s) 120 with at least first service instance 130 and backup
service(s) 121 with at least second service instance 131. Primary
service(s) 120 and backup service(s) 121 may be hosted in separate
locations in some examples, and may further correspond to different
internet protocol (IP) address subnets. Organization network 140
further includes computing assets 150, which may comprise physical
computing systems and/or virtual computing elements, such as
containers or virtual machines capable of communication with the
instances of the cloud service provider.
In operation, cloud service provider 110 executes host computing
systems that permit multiple organizations and users to initiate
and execute virtual service instances on remote computing systems.
These services may include web hosting services, data processing
services, data storage services, firewall services, or some other
similar service. The instances executed on the host computing
systems may include full operating system virtual machines and/or
containers, wherein the containers may comprise Linux containers,
Docker containers, and other similar namespace based containers.
Rather than requiring a separate operating system, which is
required for virtual machines, containers may share resources from
the host computing system, wherein the resources may include kernel
resources from the host operating system, and may further include
repositories and other approved resources that can be shared with
other containers or processes executing on the host. However,
although resources may be shared between the containers on a host,
the containers are provisioned to have private access to the
operating system with their own identifier space, file system
structure, and network interfaces. The operating system may also be
responsible for allocating processing resources, memory resources,
network resources, and other similar resources to the containerized
endpoint.
In the present implementation, organization 140 employs primary
service(s) 120 and backup service(s) 121, wherein backup service(s)
121 may be used as a failover for primary service(s) 120 when the
services are unavailable. This unavailability may occur due to an
update of the primary service instances, an update to the host
computing system, a power outage or some other similar failover
occurrence. As a result, communication connections that were
established by computing assets 150 with first service instance 130
may be required to be transitioned to second service instance 131
to ensure continual operations. In making this transition,
networking services, including software defined networking
services, provided by the cloud service provider 110 may be used to
route communications to second service instance 131 instead of
first service instance 130. To provide this change in routing,
first service instance 130 and second service instance 131 may be
allocated a shared network address, wherein computing assets 150
may use the shared destination network address to communicate with
the service and cloud service provider 110 may direct the
communication to the active service. Once received, the service may
identify and modify attributes within the communication packet and
determine whether the packet is permitted based on the
attributes.
To further demonstrate the operations of computing environment 100,
FIG. 2 is provided. FIG. 2 illustrates an operation 200 of a
service instance to provide failover operations according to an
implementation. The processes of operation 200 are referenced
parenthetically in the paragraphs that follow with reference to
systems and elements of computing environment 100. In particular,
operation 200 is described with reference to second service
instance 131, however, it should be understood that similar
operations may be employed other backup services in a cloud service
provider.
As depicted in FIG. 2, operation 200 includes obtaining (201) a
communication from a computing asset in organization network 140,
wherein the communication comprises a first destination address. As
described herein, computing assets 150 of organization network 140
may establish a connection with first service instance 130, wherein
the established connection may identify various traits between the
source asset and destination instance. These traits may include a
source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination
port, protocol, or some other similar information about the
communication. Once the communication is established, first service
instance 130 may monitor incoming communications to determine
whether the communication matches an existing session, and if there
is a match, permitting the communication to be processed in
accordance with a service executing on the instance.
As described previously, first service instance 130 and second
service instance 131 may be allocated a shared IP address, wherein
an asset may use the shared address to address the required
service. Once received by the cloud service provider, cloud service
provider 110 may use software defined networking to route the
communication to the currently active instance. In particular,
cloud service provider 110 may perform network address translation
to translate the shared IP address to a private IP address
associated with first service instance 130 when the first instance
is active. However, because second service instance 131 would be
unable to identify connections that used the private IP address
associated with first service instance 130, first service instance
130 may perform a second address translation to translate the
private IP address back to the shared IP address shared between
service instances 130 and 131. Once translated, the connection
information (IP addresses, ports, protocol, and the like) may be
maintained by first service instance 130. As the connection
information is maintained by the first instance, the connection
information is also provided to second service instance 131 to
ensure that second service instance 131 is prepared in case of
failover. This connection information may be provided upon
connection setup, connection state change, or connection close in
the first service instance 130, may be provided periodically by
first service instance 130 to second service instance 131, may be
provided upon request by second service instance 131, or may be
provided at any other similar interval from first service instance
130 to second service instance 131.
Once a failover occurs and a communication is received at second
service instance 131 using a first destination address that is
private to second service instance 131, operation 200 on second
service instance 131 replaces (202) the first destination address
with a second destination address in the communication, wherein the
second destination address comprises the shared address used for
the failover from the first service instance 130. In this manner,
by replacing the destination address that is private to second
service instance 131 with the shared destination address of service
instances 130 and 131, second service instance 131 is capable of
directly comparing traits in the received communication to traits
in the maintained connection information. Using operation 200,
second service instance 131 may determine (203) whether the
communication is permitted based at least in part on the second
address (the shared address between first service instance 130 and
second service instance 131) and the maintained connection
information for first service 130. When a communication is
permitted, or when the traits of the incoming communication match
those of a previously identified communication by first service
instance 130, then second service instance 131 may process the
communication in accordance with a service executing on the service
instance.
In some implementations, in determining whether the packets are
permitted when they are received at the second service instance
131, second service instance 131 may inspect the packet to identify
the destination IP address in the packet and replace the
destination IP address with the shared IP address for the service
instances. Once replaced, second service instance 131 may perform
packet inspection on all of the traits of the packet to determine
whether a communication is carried over from the first service
instance.
In some examples, primary service(s) 120 and backup service(s) 121
may correspond to different IP subnets that correspond to different
zones of cloud service provider 110. In particular, primary
service(s) 120 may be provided with a first subnet (range of IP
addresses), while backup service(s) 121 may be provided with a
second subnet (range of IP addresses). In managing the
communication for services across the subnets, the shared address
may comprise an address that does not belong to either of the
subnets. Thus, permitting the cloud service provider to allocate
the address to the instances as they are required. In some
implementations, the different zones for the cloud service provider
may correspond to different physical locations, such as different
server or different data centers, wherein the different data
centers may be located in different geographic regions in some
examples.
FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate an operational scenario or providing
failover operations from a first service instance to a second
service instance according to an implementation. The operational
scenario includes systems and elements of computing environment 100
of FIG. 1.
Referring first to FIG. 3A, a computing asset within organization
network 140 may establish, at step 1, a connection using the shared
IP address for first service instance 130 and second service
instance 131. In establishing the connection, the computing asset
may use the shared destination IP address that is used by service
instances 130-131 and generate a communication request to the
service. When the communication is identified by the software
defined networking operations of cloud service provider 110, cloud
service provider 110 may replace the shared destination address
with the unique destination address corresponding to service
instance 130 and forward the communication to service instance 130.
Once received, first service instance 130 is required to register
and establish the connection with the asset from organization
network 140. In particular, first service instance 130 may replace
the unique IP address with the shared IP address, and maintain
connection information about the communication in one or more data
structures. The connection information may include source and
destination IP addresses (wherein the destination IP address
comprises the shared address), source and destination ports,
protocol, or some other similar trait. Once established, first
service instance 130 may exchange data packets with the computing
asset to provide the desired service.
Once the communication is established, a failover condition may be
identified for first service instance 130 at step 2. This failover
instance may be a result of power outage for the host of the first
service instance, a software update for the host of the first
service instance, a software update on the service instance itself,
or some other similar failover event. As a result, computing assets
with computing network 140 may be incapable of communicating with
the initial service instance. Consequently, communications from the
computing assets may be diverted to a second service instance that
provides the same or similar functionality as the first
instance.
Referring to FIG. 3B, after a failover has occurred with first
service instance 130, any subsequent communications from the asset
are transitioned, at step 3, to second service instance 131. In
transitioning the communications, cloud service provider may
transition the connected and shared address from first service
instance 130 to second service instance 131. In particular, the
software defined networking of cloud service provider 110 may remap
communications with the shared address to service instance 131 to
ensure high availability of the service. Once a communication is
identified, cloud service provider 110 may replace the shared
address with a unique private address allocated to second service
instance 131, and forward the communication to the instance. After
the communication is received at the network interface of the
instance, second service instance 131 may change, at step 4, the
destination IP address to the shared IP address that was used by
first service instance 130 in establishing the connection. Once
replaced, second service instance may verify, at step 5, the
communication and, if verified, may process the packet using the
service executing on the instance. In some examples, in verifying
the packet, second service instance 131 may compare information in
the packet header (including the replaced destination IP address)
to maintained connection information for the first device instance
130. Specifically, second service instance may perform packet
inspection after replacing the unique destination address with the
shared destination address to identify traits of the packet. Once
the traits are identified the traits may be compared to one or more
data structures to determine whether an existing connection exists.
If it does exist, the communication may be processed in accordance
with a service executing on the instance, however, if a connection
is not identified within the connection information, then the
communication may be blocked.
In some implementations, in maintaining the connection information
for first service instance 130, second service 131 may be
configured to obtain the information from the first service
instance. This information may be provided periodically, provided
based on requests from second service instance 131, or provided at
any other similar interval. Consequently, when a failover condition
occurs, second service instance 131 may include the required
connection information to provide the same or similar functionality
of the primary service.
While not explicitly depicted in the examples of FIGS. 3A and 3B,
it should be understood that in some examples primary service(s)
120 and backup service(s) 121 may operate in separate physical
computing locations. These separate locations may comprise separate
physical host computing systems and/or separate data centers. In
some examples, primary service(s) 120 and backup service(s) 121 may
each be allocated a different IP subnet that corresponds to the
different locations or zones of the services. Additionally, when
the shared IP address is introduced, the shared IP address may not
correspond to either of the subnets, but rather may be used by the
cloud service provider to manage the forwarding of the
communications to the particular active instance.
FIG. 4 illustrates a data structure 400 to maintain communication
session information according to an implementation. Data structure
400 includes columns for source IP address 410, destination IP
address 411, source port 412, destination port 413, and protocol
414. Although demonstrated with five columns for traits in the
present implementation, it should be understood that additional or
fewer traits may be used to determine whether a communication is
permitted.
As described herein, organizations may employ a cloud service
provider to dynamically deploy service instances as they are
required. In some implementations, the services may include a
verification operation, wherein communications that have been
established between assets in the organization's computing
environment and the service may be approved for processing by the
service, while communications that have not been established may be
blocked by the service. In the present implementation, to ensure a
cohesive handoff and high availability between a primary and a
backup service in a cloud service provider, an organization may use
a shared destination IP address for the service. This shared
destination IP address is used by software defined networking
operations in the cloud service provider to deliver packets to one
of the primary or backup service based on which of the services is
currently active. However, when the software defined networking
provides the packet to the service, the service identifies the
packet as being received on the unique IP address for the service.
As a result, the service transitions the packet from a first
destination address (unique to the service instance) to a second
destination address (the shared address between the services). Once
transitioned the service may use data structure 400 to determine
whether a connection has been established with the source asset,
and process the packet based on whether a connection has been
established.
For example, if a communication is received with source IP address
422, a destination address 425 (corresponding to the translated
shared network address), source port 432, destination port 437, and
protocol 442, then the communication may be identified as an
established connection, and processed according to a service
executing on the service instance. In contrast, it the
communication is received that does not match an entry within data
structure 400, then the communication may be blocked prior to being
processed.
In generating data structure 400, the primary service may negotiate
communication parameters with the computing asset within the
organization network, and store the connection information for the
connection within the data structure. Once stored, the information
may be provided to the failover service instance, such that the
failover service instance may implement the functionality of the
primary service during a failover event.
FIG. 5 illustrates an overview 500 of a packet flow to a failover
service instance according to an implementation. Overview 500
includes data packet 510, cloud service provider translation
operation 520, service network translation operation 522 and
verification and process operation 524. Cloud service provider
translation operation 520 executes in the software defined
networking processes of cloud service provider 550, while service
network translation operation 522 and verification and process
operation 524 execute within failover service instance 530.
Although demonstrated in the example of FIG. 5 as using the
failover service, it should be understood that similar operations
may be provided by the primary service in translating addressing of
communications.
In operation, when computing assets initiate a communication
session with a primary service instance, the primary service
instance will cache connection information for the communication.
In caching the connection information, the primary service instance
will receive a packet using a first destination IP address that is
unique to the primary instance. Once received at the primary
instance, the primary instance will replace the destination IP
address with a shared destination IP address that is shared with a
backup instance for the service. The shared IP address may then be
stored in at least one data structure with other information about
the connection including the source IP address, source and
destination ports, protocols, or some other similar connection
information. After being stored at the primary instance, the
connection information may be communicated to the backup instance
in preparation for a failover event, e.g. such as a failure of the
host at the first instance.
Once a failover event occurs, the software defined networking
processes of cloud service provider 550 will forward communications
to the backup or failover instance instead of the primary instance.
Specifically, when a data packet is identified by cloud service
provider 550 with the shared IP address, the cloud service provider
will forward the packet to the active backup service instance by
translating the shared IP address to the unique IP address
associated with failover service instance 530. Referring to the
example in overview 500, data packet 510 is received by cloud
service provider 550, wherein the packet is processed using cloud
service provider translation operation 520. In processing the
packet, cloud service provider translation operation 520 will
identify shared address 540 in the packet and translate the packet
to the active instance associated with the shared address. In the
present implementation, because failover service instance 530 is
active for the service, shared address 540 is translated to private
address 541 associated with service instance 530 and forwarded to
the virtual network interface of the service instance. Once the
packet is received at a virtual network interface of service
instance 530, service instance 530 will perform service network
translation operation 522 to determine whether a connection has
been previously established with the source computing asset.
In some implementations, when the packet is forwarded to service
instance 530, the packet is received using the unique address for
the service instance. Once received and translated to shared IP
address 540, service instance 530 performs verification and process
operation 524. Verification and process operation 524 determines
whether a connection has been established with the source asset,
and if a connection has been established processes the packet in
accordance with a service executing on service instance 530.
However, if a connection is not established, then verification and
process operation 524 may block the communication and prevent the
communication from being processed by the service.
FIG. 6 illustrates a host computing system 600 according to an
implementation. Host computing system 600 is representative of any
computing system or systems with which the various operational
architectures, processes, scenarios, and sequences disclosed herein
for a host can be implemented. Host computing system 600 is an
example host for cloud service provider 110 of FIG. 1, although
other examples may exist. Host computing system 600 includes
storage system 645, processing system 650, and communication
interface 660. Processing system 650 is operatively linked to
communication interface 660 and storage system 645. Communication
interface 660 may be communicatively linked to storage system 645
in some implementations. Host computing system 600 may further
include other components such as a battery and enclosure that are
not shown for clarity.
Communication interface 660 comprises components that communicate
over communication links, such as network cards, ports, radio
frequency (RF), processing circuitry and software, or some other
communication devices. Communication interface 660 may be
configured to communicate over metallic, wireless, or optical
links. Communication interface 660 may be configured to use Time
Division Multiplex (TDM), Internet Protocol (IP), Ethernet, optical
networking, wireless protocols, communication signaling, or some
other communication format--including combinations thereof. In some
implementations, communication interface 660 may be configured to
communicate with other host computing systems and elements the
provide the cloud service. Additionally, communication interface
660 may be configured to communicate with computing assets of one
or more organization computing networks, wherein the assets may
communicate with host computing system 600 to communicate with a
service executing on the host.
Processing system 650 comprises microprocessor and other circuitry
that retrieves and executes operating software from storage system
645. Storage system 645 may include volatile and nonvolatile,
removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or
technology for storage of information, such as computer readable
instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.
Storage system 645 may be implemented as a single storage device,
but may also be implemented across multiple storage devices or
sub-systems. Storage system 645 may comprise additional elements,
such as a controller to read operating software from the storage
systems. Examples of storage media include random access memory,
read only memory, magnetic disks, optical disks, and flash memory,
as well as any combination or variation thereof, or any other type
of storage media. In some implementations, the storage media may be
a non-transitory storage media. In some instances, at least a
portion of the storage media may be transitory. It should be
understood that in no case is the storage media a propagated
signal.
Processing system 650 is typically mounted on a circuit board that
may also hold the storage system. The operating software of storage
system 645 comprises computer programs, firmware, or some other
form of machine-readable program instructions. The operating
software of storage system 645 comprises virtual instances 620-623,
and service provider platform 632. The operating software on
storage system 645 may further include an operating system,
utilities, drivers, network interfaces, applications, or some other
type of software. When read and executed by processing system 650
the operating software on storage system 645 directs host computing
system 600 to operate as described herein.
In one implementation, virtual instances 620-623 execute on host
computing system 600 to provide various services for one or more
organizations. In at least one implementation, a virtual instance
of virtual instances 620-623 may provide backup service to
computing assets for a particular organization. In providing the
backup service, the virtual instance may communicate with a primary
instance that provides the service to the computing assets, wherein
the communications may provide information about the currently
established connections on the primary asset. This connection
information may include source and destination addressing
information, protocol information, or some other similar
information about connections established with the primary
instance.
Once a failover event occurs at the primary instance, the
operations of the primary instance may failover to the backup
instance in virtual instances 620-623. In providing the
high-availability failover operations, service provider platform
632 may permit the organization to associate a shared address to
multiple service instances. This ensure that when a first instance
fails or requires an update, the same address may be used by assets
to address a second instance that provides the same or similar
functionality. When the communications are received by the cloud
service provider platform, the cloud service provider will identify
the currently active instance, and forward the communication to the
appropriate instance. In the present implementation, when the
communication is forwarded to the destination virtual instance, the
destination virtual instance receives the communication at a unique
IP address associated with the instance. Thus, while the computing
asset in the organization's network may use the shared IP address
to ensure high-availability of a particular service, service
provider platform 632 may be used to replace the IP addressing as
required for the currently active instance.
As an example, if virtual instance 622 represented a backup
service, then a communication may be received by virtual instance
622 that includes a first destination network address, wherein the
first destination network address corresponds to a unique IP
address for virtual instance 622. To provide the failover
functionality and determine whether a connection was established
with a primary instance, virtual instance 622 may replace the
unique destination address corresponding to virtual instance 622 to
the shared address that is shared between backup virtual instance
622 and the primary virtual instance. In some implementations, the
primary and backup virtual instances may execute on separate hosts
or in separate data centers. These separate hosts or data centers
may ensure high availability for the service even as a result of
hardware failure for the host or data center. In some
implementations, the primary and backup instance may each operate
in separate IP subnets. As a result, it may be difficult to move
the IP address (or network configuration) from the first service
instance to the second service instance. Here, instead
Once the IP address is modified for the virtual instance, the
virtual instance may determine whether a connection has been
established with the source of the communication based at least in
part on the shared IP address and connection information that was
obtained from the primary instance. In particular, traits of the
packet including addressing and protocol traits may be used to
determine whether the communication has been established. If a
communication has been established, then the communication may be
processed in accordance with the service on the virtual instance,
however, if a communication has not been established then the
packet may be blocked from further processing by the service.
Returning to the elements of FIG. 1, cloud service provider 110 may
comprise a plurality of physical computing systems, wherein each of
the physical computing systems may include communication
interfaces, network interfaces, processing systems,
microprocessors, storage systems, storage media, or some other
processing devices or software systems. Examples of the physical
computing systems can include software such as an operating system,
logs, databases, utilities, drivers, networking software, and other
software stored on a computer-readable medium. The physical
computing systems may comprise serving computing systems, routing
and switching computing systems, desktop computing systems, or some
other similar computing system, including combinations thereof,
capable of providing a platform for the execution of service
instances.
Computing assets 150 and other computing systems 160 may each
include communication interfaces, network interfaces, processing
systems, microprocessors, storage systems, storage media, or some
other processing devices or software systems. Examples of computing
assets 150 and other network computing systems 160 can include
software such as an operating system, logs, databases, utilities,
drivers, networking software, and other software stored on a
computer-readable medium. Computing assets 150 and other network
computing systems 160 may comprise physical or virtual computing
elements, such as desktop computing systems, serving computing
systems, mobile computing systems, virtual machines, containers, or
other similar computing elements, including combinations
thereof.
Communication between cloud service provider 110, organization
network 140, and other computing system 160 may use metal, glass,
optical, air, space, or some other material as the transport media.
Communication between cloud service provider 110, organization
network 140, and other computing system 160 may use various
communication protocols, such as Time Division Multiplex (TDM),
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP), Ethernet,
synchronous optical networking (SONET), hybrid fiber-coax (HFC),
circuit-switched, communication signaling, wireless communications,
or some other communication format, including combinations,
improvements, or variations thereof. Communication between cloud
service provider 110, organization network 140, and other computing
system 160 may be a direct link or can include intermediate
networks, systems, or devices, and can include a logical network
link transported over multiple physical links.
The included descriptions and figures depict specific
implementations to teach those skilled in the art how to make and
use the best mode. For the purpose of teaching inventive
principles, some conventional aspects have been simplified or
omitted. Those skilled in the art will appreciate variations from
these implementations that fall within the scope of the invention.
Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the features
described above can be combined in various ways to form multiple
implementations. As a result, the invention is not limited to the
specific implementations described above, but only by the claims
and their equivalents.
* * * * *